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Hi everyone I am compiling various fake methods 錯誤氣法 (Chag Oh Ki Beop) used in martial arts demonstrations for an article. This is in no way an attempt to attack legitimate Chi/Ki demonstrations (which are rare). The purpose of this article is to put these methods into historical perspective and give the readers the ability to discern fake methods when they see them.

I'd like to point out I am a firm believer in Chi/Ki and had some pretty amazing experiences during my training but I think it is important to protect the future martial artists from getting taken in with trick methods.

There are quite a few 'masters' out there taking advantage of people as well as making us all look bad. I don't know if any of you remember James Hydrick. Hydrick had most everyone fooled with his Chi demonstrations moving phone book pages with his Chi, moving heavy bags in his school with energy etc. He had the Great Ed Parker completely taken and was on the cover of major martial arts magazines. Then a Magician challenged him and outed him. Hydrick later admitted it.

I think it will be a fascinating article. So if any of you know of trick methods;
Weakening bricks, boards, bottles (I've heard of a few but share yours)
Ashida Kim like tricks like his attempt to levitate >8O
Standing on swords, etc. etc. Post them here. This is not a discussion about people but techniques. The idea of the article is to look into the psychology of WHY people do this and HOW they do it so you can be better educated about these methods.

Admin

There is the old soak the bricks in water then freeze them. The water in the bricks expands during the freezing process. This causes micro fissures in the brick. you put that brick on the bottom of two normal bricks. when you hit the top bricks, the bottom (weaker Brick) cracks easily. Making seem like a chi gung demo.

FWIW

DT

Breaking ice blocks made of salt water. The salt water freezes at a much lower temperature so they are much much more brittle.

When you watch videos of this ice breaking you'll see the ice blocks melting way faster once they've come out of the freezer. Water pours off of them almost like a waterfall.

ChungDoKwaner

Just a point of clarification, when I say 'fake' Chi demonstrations that does not mean the demonstrations themselves don't require skill. They seem to fall into three categories;

1 Complete fake, no skill using a trick method (intentional).
2 A skill demonstration falsely claiming Chi powers (intentional)
3 A skill demonstration with the false belief of Chi powers (unintentional)

This does not include demonstrations that illustrate sinking, rooting etc. These are the 'gray' area. A person having another push them and relaxes their stance and roots is technically controlling their energy via tension and relaxation, same with extending ones arm and having another try to bend it. These demonstrations and others require the demonstrator to control their energy which manifests as tension or relaxation. This is one definition of 'Chi'

For example weakening bricks/boards is #1 complete fake. Standing on swords takes some skill but does the performer know there is a 'trick' to it or are they doing it with the ritual their instructor taught them and think the ritual is giving them some chi power.

Like the Boxers in the Boxer rebellion that were given Taoist talismans to make them invulnerable to bullets. They believed they would be impervious yet we all know how that turned out.

BTW one of the 'tricks'' I could never understand the value of was holding a sword blade in the hand the having a belt tied around the fist then drawing the sword blade out. It never made any sense to me and was an obvious trick yet I saw a few Korean masters do it frequently.

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Posts Copied from the old Board

Another snippet from my book on Ki Gong (it's being revamped to add this material in), I think this is a fascinating subject dealing with the gambit from psychology, cult development, physics etc.

I'm going to share a few of techniques that if you did not know any better would make the performer look like superman. Some of the techniques; moving people with your energy without touching them, moving objects with your energy without touching them, paralyzing someone with just a touch, absorbing deadly strikes, stopping your hear, bringing a dead fly back to life with your healing powers and much more.

Some demonstrations I will discuss but not reveal out of respect to those in the Magic field that created the effects and shared them with me; reading the thoughts of others, mentally lighting a bulb without touching it then make it explode with your mind, levitation, having someone pick a finger on a hand then they touch every finger when they get to the finger they chose they feel energy (shock), lighting up any bulb just by touching it and many other effects. The point of all of these effects is if done properly and presented as 'powers' they can fool a lot of people. They are used today by far too many fake Chi gong masters.

For example I know very senior martial artists that claim their Grandmaster can levitate. These are very intelligent people that believe something that simply isn't true. It defies all the known laws of science. We are not talking about fringe science, quantum physics but observable basic laws of nature. Yet the story gets passed on to future doe eyed generations.

I believe there are extraordinary abilities, I have had extraordinary experiences to validate that belief, those experiences have been in the realm of the mind i.e premonitions for example. I have yet seen a demonstration where I could walk away and say that person could obviously impact another object with their powers. I have also been badly fooled a few times on my martial arts journey which has made me develop a more keener skeptical eye than most.

Now that said, I believe it is possible for another person to have a connection with another and impact them in various ways. There has been far too many people that spontaneously thought of another and either something happened to them or they contacted them shortly after, the staring phenomenon is another example. When one stares at another and they suddenly turn and look at that person. So on some at this time immeasurable level something is happening. But these experiences deal with the mind or personal connections with another.

There have been some interesting experiments by Dr. Robert Jahn and Brenda Dunne head of the P.E.A.R department at Princeton University concerning the subtle effect the mind had on external objects. The short version of this is they have concluded that ones thoughts have a very measurable but subtle effect on the external world. They determined this through various experiments such as using random number generators, coin flipping, and other interesting methods where the experimentor tried to sway the results one way or another i.e more tails then heads on a series of coin flips. Time and time again they notice a small but definite result. Possibly that is why to date no one has discovered this before because it is so subtle.

This in no way means one can eventually levitate, move people without touching them etc. But it is interesting none the less.

:How did these demonstrations develop?
My research led me to believe that demonstrations like this were either for;
1- Profit, tricking people for money.
2- Ego, making one feel more important.
3- Power, Gaining a following to your belief system/religion and growing your ranks.
4- Survival, if others felt you had magic powers they would not challenge you and steer clear of you.
5- Entertainment - Simple entertainment as in side shows, circus, of street performers.
6- To teach a scientific principle or skill but was later perverted into the opposite. A lot of martial arts Chi demonstrations fall into this category.

Often the martial art superhuman demonstrations that defy logic are based on simple scientific principles that are then dressed up with the mystique of Chi. Take slicing fruit or vegetables with a sword upon a prone volunteer. For those that have not seen this demonstration. A volunteer or the demonstrator lays down or stands and has a vegetable or fruit like a watermelon placed on their abdomen. Someone then cuts the offending vegetable with a sword and they amazing escape with no harm. This can be presented two ways 1) the master swordsman's cutting ability is so great they don't cut the student or 2) the master has some kind of magical ability that prevents them from being cut. Either way a very important principle that many don't know is demonstrated here; as long as you don't follow through most blades will only cut when drawn across the target not tapped upon it's surface.

Now I have seen some excellent swordsman demonstrate cutting like this then I have seen others use trickery also. For example if you take a large fruit like a watermelon and place it upon a surface (like a person) and cut %90 through it and just pull on the opposite ends it will break cleanly the rest of the way, giving the illusion that the swordsman cut all the way through.

Understanding this principle you can also pretend to invoke some invisible force field that can make you uncut-able, placing materials on your body then whacking them with a blade leaving no marks upon your mystical flesh. Leading people to believe you have super human powers.

So here we have an interesting principle demonstrated that can show the swordsman's control which is an actual demonstration of some skill, or can be used to mislead people into thinking there is some mystical force or skill at work.

What concerns me is people trying to copy these feats and getting ultimately injured, or killed. Making students think they can not be cut with a knife is irresponsible and dangerous if presented as part of a curriculum or a power they can attain training with the 'master'. I shudder to think how this would have effected me as an impressionable young martial artist many years ago.

As martial artists we have to police ourselves and expose people like this, think about all the people that died from fake healers that used trickery to fool them into thinking they were healed of their disease, many of which were Chi masters. This is in no way a knock at those legitimate healers and people that share their good energy with others. This is about those that use false methods to prey upon they innocent.

The psychology of Fake Chi Gong
While researching this over the years I had to often wonder WHY would people fake these powers?
I came to the conclusion ultimately it's about Ego which is the antithesis of the martial arts philosophy. Some martial artist 'masters' unfortunately miss the simple beauty and ordinary magic the martial arts and its philosophy has to offer, and in that simplicity there is real magic. Instead they try to fill a void in their belief system by pretending to have powers they do not actually have. Naturally when the general public see these amazing feats they are often motivated to join the flock in the hopes of learning these magical skills. The performers Ego is inflated even more and like a drug they keep performing getting more attention and the cycle continues to repeat itself.

Chi demonstrations that the performer unintentionally believes they are using 'Chi/Ki'
This is also another interesting category, I've witnessed many well meaning and honest masters that legitimaely thought they had some extra ordinary power that was taught to them by their instructor.

Often in martial arts demonstrations usually performed by Korean masters I've witnessed them piercing their body with long thin spikes promoting their ability to stop their bloodflow and control their bleeding and pain. What most are unaware of is there are certain areas of the body that will pretty much seal themselves up and not bleed when a long needle is pushed through. It has nothing to do with self control it is automatic and for the most part not that painful.

There are a lot of martial artists out there that were taught these demonstrations by their instructors as actual Ki gong and simply trusted their instructor whom may have learned it that way was as well.

Teaching a scientific principle or skill
Once I was teaching my students about how to get up from the ground when the opponent is standing. Instinctively when getting up one rocks forward shifting their weight to get up. This can be disastrous in a real fight leaving you open to getting punted when you try to rise. So tactically you want to move away when getting up. To illustrate this point (about shifting the weight) I told the students I would honor them with a demonstration of paralyzing someone by pressing only three acupuncture points. I then had a volunteer sit in a chair and pressed two pretend points and the third on their forehead. What they did not know was by placing your hand/thumb on someones forehead you prevent them from shifting their weight and getting up. Amazingly often even the person in the chair can't understand how this is done.

Their jaws were on the floor and I even heard a student say 'oh my God, that's amazing!'. I then rubbed the three points reversing the effect and had the student sit back down. 'Now the secret to this is..." I told my captive audience pausing for dramatic effect "that it is total baloney!" They then all laughed. I then explained how you naturally rock forward to get up and how that's a BAD thing to do in a fight and used it as a lesson to bring out and highlight an important tactical point that they will never forget, and we had a good laugh at ourselves.

Admin

There was a marial arts guy who used to appear on TV who said he could turn the pages of a book by mental telepathy. Closer examination revealed he did it by breathing out through his nose while staring intently at the book. I think there are vids on YouTube.

ChungDoKwaner

That's James Hydrick, I mentioned him earlier. He had a lot of masters actually just about everybody fooled except of course magicians whom eventually outed him. He is a prime example of the purpose of this article. He duped a lot of people out of money and eventually was arrested and is still incarcerated for multiple sexual crimes. He is a predator.

Then there are the numerous chi gong masters in China that have healing clinics with hundreds of people paying for a magic show thinking they are healed.

Over here we have people doing the no touch knock out nonsense that after even being outed still have a faithful following.

As martial artists we have to take Chi/Ki gong out of the stone age and show people the true value of this wonderful aspect of the martial arts.

Admin

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http://www.wired.com/table_of_malcontents/2007/03/james_randi_bob/

Moo Do In

Fake KI/Chi demonstrations usually fall into two categories;

1 Stunts
2 Tricks
Stunts are demonstrations that don't use trickery so much as they are simply physical skills and may involve an element of danger. Take for example the often seen piercing the forearms demonstration. I categorize that as a 'stunt' it is slightly painful and has a small element of danger (if you screw it up) but for the most part as long as you stick the needle in the right spot it does not require any training what so ever. There are some masters that honestly believe they are using mind over matter when demonstrating these stunts.
Examples;
Standing on light bulbs or eggs to demonstrate lightness
Cutting objects (usually produce) on someone or yourself
Standing on glass or a bed of nails.
Putting out a candle flame with a finger strike.

It should also be noted that sometimes these stunts/skills are simply demonstrated as is, in other words they are presented honestly or without the Chi/Ki mystique. If they are presented in this way then we can't accuse the demonstrator of using tricks, fakery or being dishonest.

When I learned to put out a candle flame with a strike it was presented as a good strike will snap the flame out. It was not presented as Chi/Ki.  When I learned to stand in broken glass it was presented as 'relaxed concentration. In other words if you tense up the likely hood of your getting cut is higher. They were presented as tests of your skills and abilities not chi or ki. Chi/Ki was always presented to me originally as your ability to control your internal state that included knowing how to motivate yourself, calm yourself etc. Your skill was demonstrated in your ability to control your tension and relaxation which affected your technique.

Tricks
Tricks are when the demonstrator uses fakery to accomplish their demonstration. i.e weakening boards before breaking, using blindfolds that you can see through. These are dishonest, period. Some of these tricks for example;
Stopping your heart
Using weakened breaking materials
Moving someone with your energy without touching them.
Etc, etc....

And we as martial artists must ask ourselves do people that dishonestly demonstrate false skills, lying to us deserve our attention and loyalty? I'm not talking about the well meaning instructor that thinks he/she is using chi/ki, I'm talking about the 'masters' that pretend to have powers knowing full well they don't, taking money, time and energy from others. That is a very slippery slope that eventually will lead to disappointment.

Fairly recently there was a 'master' referred to as the 'Human stun gun' he honestly thought he could knock people out without touching them. This was because his teacher taught it to him using trick methods that cause people to loose their balance, that mixed in with the power of suggestion caused him to fall for it hook, line and sinker. Then so did his students, he thought he had genuine powers.

Until he ran into a skeptic that refused to pass out, then another. Eventually looking like an ass on national television. His instructor said the reason why those people were not knocked out was they lifted their 'Big toe' which neutralized the energy.

And their are many people that still buy this.

Another Master, an old Asian fellow honestly though he could move people with his energy. He even went so far as to challenge anyone. A young fighter took him up on the challenge. Amazingly the younger fighter must have had his big toes up too because he simply waded in and beat the tar out of the old master.

I had trained with a very talented combat expert whom gave the impression he could effect another person with his 'Psychic energy'. This was demonstrated spontaneously during various combat drills where we were making contact on and off. He would be demonstrating a particular defense then apparently move the person with his Psychic powers. He then got to me. We were doing a combat drill then he would pass his hands uncomfortably close causing me to move away and off balance myself. When I did not react I would get a painful tap here and there further causing me to comply.

To an observer it must look amazing he would move his hands without touching me and I would move away, little did they know I was moving away because I knew pain was coming. Did this person know they did not have legitimate powers? I don't think so, I knew them personally and I think he was simply doing what he was taught, when some loyal students reacted as if they were experiencing psychic energy it validated his belief, when others did not he adapted by thinking they were not feeling the connection or he was not transmitting properly and since the goal was to control them he would tap them until the submitted either way.

This is akin to the Aikidoka anticipating the throw so they go with it. Which eventually leads to their instructor just tapping them and they fly away. That usually sometimes is a natural development that one should actually be on guard for not to do. Mix that in with some interesting scientific bio mechanic demonstrations like being grabbed by multiple attackers and through technique they are suddenly downed or having ten men unsuccessfully try to push the demonstrator over, and combine that with mental imagination demonstrations like the unbendable arm (probably the closest to be a demonstration of control of ones energy) and to the uneducated observer in a culture that Chi is a daily phrase and you've got a very confusing mix of what Chi is or is not.

Once some friends had a birthday cake for me with one candle on it. Playing around I put it out with a finger strike. One of the guests had a Chinese girlfriend who exclaimed 'Wow, great Chi!' I responded by saying 'not chi wind', she said 'Chi, wind same thing'.

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Extraordinary verse the Mythical
In my travels I have seen unbelievable demonstrations of skill. I have seen archers split arrows, bounce arrows off of objects and strike their target, in China women shoot bows with their feet, gunman shoot through washers, split bullets on the edge of a knife and hit two targets simultaneously, Knife throwers, acrobats that could toss a small lid off a pot suspended on their foot have it somersault in the air and land on a tea pot balance on their head all the while balancing on a unicycle.

I've seen Chinese jugglers toss a pitchfork back and forth catching it, spinning it back and forth. I've seen a fellow throw a playing card and slice vegetables in half.

I've seen a fellow that could hand you a $10,000 check and you could hide it anywhere on a city block and he would find it simply by holding your hand and reading your tension or lack there of.

These are not tricks but extra ordinary skills developed with much practice.

Once upon a time martial artists were respected because of their speed, accuracy and agility demonstrated with an intense focus and calm. Then the public was over saturated with chop sockey films with super human feats. Their expectations were raised and some martial artists used stunts and tricks to fill those expectations. Then the public started to think that was the norm; i.e martial artists were supermen and women.

Instead of supporting the practice of the development of extraordinary skills many martial artists started doing these seemingly superhuman feats and promoting them as a mythical force that they and only their inner circle were privy to.

In my more mature years it's not the crazy superman powers that impress me it's the skills developed through extraordinary practice. These fake demonstrations may raise the bar falsely in the public's eye but in reality they lower it, because good skills are ignored for trickery. Look at all these gymnastic martial artists performing incredible aerial kicks but can't throw a decent punch or haven't the slightest idea about tactics and strategies. The days where Fumio Demura demonstrated perfect execution of technique are overshadowed by teenagers with funky haircuts flipping like monkeys to loud music, the bar has been lowered not raised.

For those of you that want to ignore the obvious fact that you are being fooled, ignorance is bliss.

For those of you with your feat planted more firmly on the ground I guess we'll have to settle for being extraordinary instead of supermen.

Extraordinary skills require extraordinary practice (extraordinary practice requires extraordinary commitment and dedication)

Admin

Update for those of you that asked:
I'm having so much fun compiling this, that I am making it part of the Ki book. I find this topic fascinating. The psychology and motives behind performing these methods, stunts, tricks.

I imagine this will upset many in the community when it shows the God like powers of the masters/grandmasters to be nothing more than skillful methods, dangerous stunts or flat out deceptive and dishonest tricks. I avoid naming names in the book in the hopes that if anyone is promoting these methods stops doing so and appreciates what makes them special is how they carry themselves and the example they set not the special powers they claim. I never saw Grandmaster Hwang Kee do anything special (as in Ki demonstrations) yet he was one of the most special human beings I've ever had the honor to know.

I have no problem with Masters/Grandmasters demonstrating entertaining techniques as long as they DONT promote them as a mystical power they developed. It is a SKILL they developed, there is nothing mystical about it. Some of these skills at one time illustrated a scientific principle like inertia, angle, relaxation, etc. and I think some demonstrations can actually emphasize a point more powerfully if demonstrated in an amazing and entertaining way. But my requirement is that they are not misrepresented.

This chapter of the book is already at 20 pages and growing.

And it's going to be a very interesting read.

Admin

Thought this was as good as any place to mention this...

I just got done listening to the two-part Podcast on Carson's Corner of his interview with Frank Dux. Now I had spent the last I-don't-know-how-many years reading all over the web what a fake-phoney-fraud Dux is. So much so that I started to believe it.

After listening to that interview I'm not so sure anymore. For someone to sit down like he did for two hours, and glibly spin lies in such a consistently convincing manner .... I don't even know if that's possible unless the person is a complete psychotic.

And I think if Dux did suffer from psychosis it would have manifested in some other way over the years other than lying.

If anyone hasn't heard it yet, I recommend it.

ChungDoKwaner

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Ooops, a billion pardons.  

http://carsonscorner.podomatic.com/

One just needs to scroll down to the May 31, 2010 and June 4, 2010 podcasts.

ChungdoKwaner

How about the touchless death touch of George Dillman or Andy Ahpo's Point and Wiggle House Plants!

Emperor

Oh George gets a special mention and various ways of moving things with "Chi" will be discussed.

things I've seen too many times:
- laying on a bed of nails while someone breaks a cinder block on your chest.
- standing on/ stepping in broken glass.
- using air pressure displacement to break a bottle
- breaking wooden poles over the stomach, back, arms, legs

Wu De

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See the thing here to remember is these demonstrations if promoted as Ki/Chi fall into 3 categories:
1 Complete fake, no skill using a trick method (intentional).
2 A skill demonstration falsely claiming Chi powers (intentional)
3 A skill demonstration with the false belief of Chi powers (unintentional)

If breaking a board, bottle brick is presented straight as is (skill) then it's not fake just a way to do something. However like I mentioned if promoted as some super power then I feel that is dishonest.

I demo the bottle break using 'air pressure' but it's an explanation of what happens if I molly pop someone upside the head forcing air into their inner ear. Let me tell you when people realize how destructive that little bit of air in the bottle is when associated with and ear slap it builds a respect for the technique that the only other way to demonstrate the devastating destruction would be to actually hit them with it.

So in the right context SOME of these skills have value and maybe that is the origin for some. Like the science teacher that teaches inertia by pulling the table cloth out from underneath a dinner setting and not moving it.

I think there is value here to illustrate scientific principles like science teachers do. You could recite boring passages from a text book, or wow them with something they wont forget.

The problem is the tricksters just want to wow them and not pass on the lesson, building the skill into a trick.

Breaking is another example of this we have 3 types of brick break at our school C, B and A

C being an assisted break i.e the two materials hit together.
B space between the bricks
A Flat brick supported
A+ Unusual breaks (bottom brick etc)

Doing it this way builds confidence, and teaches various principles that relate to power and striking objects. WE NEVER present it as some mystical power. That's the point of me writing this book I want to expose the methods, teach some principles and stop tricksters from duping the public.

Broken glass and bed of nails demonstrates dispersion of force (just the opposite of striking) breaking poles on the body shows where you better be when someone swings a stick at you. So I see some pretty cool demonstrations illustrating physics principles here. As long as they are taught that way. See I always explain to my students how these things work. To not do so would lead them to believe you possess some mystical power.

My teacher always said:

Pity the student that does not become better than the teacher.

Admin

sorry, i should have specified that i'm tired of seeing this passed off as demonstrations of ki, #2

Wu De

No problem,   That's one of the things that interests me. The origin of these 'skills' and how they may have been originally applied. I see an opportunity to really impress a teaching point using some of these techniques. Think about this teacher A talks about focus of force for a lecture. Teacher B stands on a bed of nails then talks about focus and how the point of one nail could easily penetrate and multiple nails disperse the force then equates that to technique i.e punching, kicking etc.

Which one do you think would bring the 'point' home (sorry for the pun)?

As long as the mystique is separated from it and we are not trying to trick people I think some of these skills can be valuable instructional aids.

Admin

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Here Chris Hunter A.K.A Ashida Kim demonstrates the Ninja Blind folded techniques. The problem is he can see right through the blind fold.

You can buy it here at this magic site:
http://www.illusionwarehouse.com/Cart/description.php?II=1164&UID=20111110105234

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Master Tsai sorry but I had to delete that. 1) That's not a video about Ki/Chi gong so it belongs in the X files section 2) It's bloody so you have to post a disclaimer warning people and our younger guests about it.

Thanks for your understanding. Just trying to keep the posts organized and the members from clicking on stuff they may not want to see.